Foundational Concepts for Transitioning Writers: Establishing Context

After several years working in your field, you become an expert. You have specialized knowledge and information about your work environment, the people you serve, the functions of your team, and your team’s goals, initiatives, and desired outcomes. Newcomers to your workplace will look to you for answers to tough questions. Superiors will lean on your insight to develop practices and procedures within your workplace. When you make the decision to return to school again after these years in the workforce, it can sometimes be difficult to convey this expertise in your writing assignments.

As you transition into scholarly writing, often you will understand the topic of your paper in a way that many of your readers will not. One of the most challenging roles as the writer is ensuring that your readers develop an appropriate understanding of your topic. To do so, you must establish the context surrounding your topic in your introduction so your reader can best understand your position. This is one of the keys to success in your new workplace, your virtual classroom at Walden University.

In this post, I will discuss the importance of establishing context in your introductory paragraph. In the coming weeks, look for additional posts in this series on Scholarly Writing for the Transitioning Writer: one on using evidence effectively and one on point of view in scholarly writing.

Establishing context requires that you present your main topic and your subtopics, and illustrate the connections between your main and subtopics. This is an important part of creating an effective introductory paragraph, and there is a fine balance between providing enough information and too much information.

Consider the introductory paragraph template below.

Sentence 1: Provide your readers with a little contextual information about your main topic. In what context is your main topic important? Is it important in the healthcare industry? Is it important if an organizational leader is working to create more streamlined work practices? Sentence 2: Provide your readers with a short definition of your main topic so that your readers can establish their knowledge of this idea that’s likely new to them. For example, if your main topic is electronic health records, you might say, Electronic health records are BLANK. Sentences 3-5: Present your subtopics to your readers so that they have some idea about what you’ll be discussing in your paper. Final sentence: Introduce your thesis statement. In this statement, you will likely reiterate the main topic of your paper as well as the subtopics you intend to discuss. For example, you might say, In this text, I present MAIN TOPIC, with a focus on how MAIN TOPIC is related to and influenced by SUBTOPIC 1, SUBTOPIC 2, and SUBTOPIC 3.

In this template, you will notice that I do not go into detail about my main topic, nor do I describe in depth subtopics 1, 2, or 3. Still, I have prepared my readers for the information that I’ll present later in my text, as I have told them that the main topic is related to and influenced by subtopics 1, 2, and 3. This introduction “sets the stage” for my paper and has prepared you, my readers, for the information I’ll present later in my text.

As you write your introduction, it is important to remember that your audience may not have the understanding of your topic that you have. They don’t have your experience or expertise! Guiding them into the body of your paper with an introductory paragraph that establishes contextual information is important. This paragraph will help your readers develop their understanding of your topic and prepare them for the ideas that will follow in the body of your text.

Also, please check out the other blog posts in this series (Using Evidence and Point of View). If you’re a writer starting, returning, or transitioning into their scholarly writing journey, we have more topics that will help you engage with scholarly writing. 

Nicole Townsend is a writing instructor in the Walden University Writing Center. She has worked in writing centers for ten years, with an interest in individualizing support for diverse student populations. While Nicole also enjoys editorial work and teaching English as an adjunct professor, her passion is for the foundation of collaboration embedded in writing center best practices.

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